


To Balance The Duties Of Crown and Heart

by Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)



Category: Arthurian Mythology
Genre: Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28589472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Eternal%20Scribe
Summary: It’s not an affair if they are all in love with each other.
Relationships: Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19
Collections: Holly Poly 2020





	To Balance The Duties Of Crown and Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my favorite fandoms and ships to write! It definitely went off in a different direction than I had planned but muses have minds of their own.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Arthur couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face as he listened to Guinevere have words with the _nobleman_ in front of them. Her slim fingers were tapping on the arm of her throne and it was one of the few outward signs of her extreme desire to deal physically with the situation that was being presented to the court.

“Are you actually daring to accuse this crown and court of aiding in the ability of someone to act with dishonor in their marriage?” Her voice was carefully gentle and the knights that had drifted closer to the thrones exchanged looks as when their queen struggled to speak with a gentle voice they knew that she was trying to rein in her temper.

The nobleman in question lifted his chin and stared at her with as little respect for her position as queen as he thought he could get away with.

“I don’t know what kind of behavior you might allow in the privacy of your rooms, my lady.”

Arthur’s spine stiffened, leaning forward even as Lancelot straightened his relaxed posture, his attention narrowing on the man that stood before the thrones with the focus he used on a battlefield.

Guinevere reached her hand out to gently touch her husband’s arm, her touch trying to calm him.

“Would you like to repeat that, Lord Tyrone,” she requested, her voice now as cold as the steel in the swords that all of the knights in the room carried.

“Are you certain you would like me to, your highness?”

“Oh, I am sure that my beloved husband, my champion, and every knight in this room would very much like you to speak plainly,” Guinevere dared him, relaxing back against her throne. “As well as my ladies and may of our other guests and nobles.”

She turned her hand up, and Arthur saw the request for what it was, threading his fingers with hers. They both knew that she not done anything wrong but her hands were still shaking enough from the accusation that only he could detect it. Across the room, his eyes met the dark ones of Lancelot and the trusted knight moved up to the dais to be close to his king and queen.

“You bring dishonor to your husband, your crown, and your knights by pretending that you are virtuous,” Lord Tyrone said angrily. “How dare you pretend to embody the essence of a good wife when every time your husband is away from your side you are entertaining other men in your chambers!”

Gasps and exclamations of shock and anger move throughout the room as Guinevere turns pale. Before she can say anything in her defense, even though she knows she has done no wrong, the sound of steel clearing scabbard rings out through the hall. All eyes focus on where Lancelot is standing at his Queen’s side with his sword pointing at her accuser.

“Explain yourself.” His voice is quiet, but no less deadly for the evenness of the pitch.

“As if you do not know, Lord Lancelot,” the man sneered. “You are in her chambers and in her bed often enough to be very well aware of how disloyal she is to her king and husband. Many of nobles were against him marrying her and now we know that we were right in our estimations of her character.” He tilted his head. “Tell me, Lancelot, how many times have you failed to be there to protect your king because you were plowing the fields of his wife in his marriage bed?”

Lancelot’s eyes flashed and he turned his sword so the blade’s edge was closer to the other man. However, before he could get the chance to say anything, Guinevere got to her feet, her hand holding her own sword that had been gifted to her by her husband.

“You will apologize to Lancelot and you will apologize now. He has done nothing to bring his loyalty to the kingdom and crown into question. He has never once betrayed his king and he has always carried out his duties as required.”

Lord Tyrone scoffed. “I do not take orders from a whore wearing a crown that does not belong to her.” He spit in her direction. “How many others of our king’s loyal men have you seduced with your evil tricks and bedeviled them into committing treason by coming to your bed?”

Guinevere was so angry that she was shaking and she walked down the steps to place the point of her sword against her accuser’s throat before anyone could stop her.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t end your life right here and now for your evil words?”

“Killing me doesn’t hide the truth of your evil, Guinevere. And now everyone here who didn’t know of your deeds before will know. Putting a sword through my throat only admits to your guilt in front of all here.” He looked over to Arthur while voices rose to a low buzzing and continued throughout the hall as they discussed what was happening before their eyes. “I am sorry that you have been betrayed, my King.”

Arthur stared at him for a very long moment, his face unreadable. He got to his feet and came down the stairs. “As am I.” He looked at his wife and his knight. “Guinevere, love, stand down.”

“You still call her love after knowing all of this?” Lord Tyrone said as Guinevere reluctantly lowered her sword and then stepped back, giving her husband a small smile. “She has committed treason against you.”

Without looking away from the man in front of him, Arthur called out a question. “Kay, what is the punishment for treason?”

“Death, my king.” The knight responded quickly.

“Gawaine, what is the charge for making false accusations against the king or queen?”

“Treason,” Gawaine answered.

“Tristan, who is the one that decides if treason has committed and the punishment to be carried out?”

“You are, Arthur,” Tristan said as he glared at the man who had caused all of this in the first place.

“Thank you.” As Lancelot had the man pinned in place with his sword at the ready, Arthur stepped around him and looked at everyone else who had gathered in the hall. “You have all heard what Lord Tyrone has had to say against your Queen. You have heard the vile way in which he has spoken about her and about our trusted Lancelot. Are there any others of you who would like to add to the accusations?”

“This is not an accusation, your majesties,” a soft-spoken man that always accompanied Guinevere when the knights weren’t close by commented. “But some people like to talk and say it isn’t seemly for our beloved Queen to be alone with our good Lancelot so often when you are not here to be seen with them.”

“They do, do they?” Arthur questioned, his voice like silk. 

“They do,” another man confirmed. “And we can only do so much to quiet the voices that seem determined to speak against their loyalty to you.”

“However, Lord Tyrone seems to be the loudest of these voices,” one of Guinevere’s attendants said sourly. “He thinks that he can bribe people to speak against her and then when we have nothing to say to him he decides it is proof of her disloyalty.”

Arthur looked around the room at the knights of his inner circle.

“You’ve heard the accusations. You’ve heard the evidence presented. We all know the sentence for treason. Are we all in the agreement of the guilt?”

Each knight met Arthur’s eyes and then nodded. “Aye.”

Only Lancelot was left and Arthur looked at him. “Guilty?”

Lancelot’s answer was immediate. “Yes. Guilty beyond sin.”

Arthur drew Excalibur and then moved to Guinevere. “My lady?”

She took a deep breath, calming her emotions, and then nodded. “You know I stand with you, my love.”

Before Lord Tyrone could register the meaning of that exchange, Arthur turned and Excalibur entered the man’s heart. He looked into the dying man’s eyes and smiled grimly.

“You should always make sure you have the truth of the matter before you make unfounded accusations that will get you killed.” 

He pulled Excalibur free of Lord Tyrone and let the man fall to his knees. Tyrone looked up at Arthur in shock and tried to speak, but all that came out was a gurgling sound accompanied by blood. After he fell over dead, Arthur bent to wipe his blade clean.

He walked up the dais to his throne, with Guinevere and Lancelot following him. Once there, he turned to look over the great hall, his eyes full of fire, Excalibur still in his hand and at the ready if he needed it.

“I should not need to explain myself or my personal life to anyone.” Arthur’s voice rang out. “Guinevere has not done anything to be punished for. She has ever been loyal to me, as has Lancelot.” He reached out his hand and Guinevere took it. Lancelot came up to his other side. “I will say this once and only once and I will not have anything said against us again.”

Lancelot stood resolute, daring anyone with his eyes and his sword to say anything that would interrupt their king right now.

“How can Guinevere be anything but loyal to me when I am well aware of any behavior she and Lancelot partake in? Lancelot loves Guinevere as I love her and as I love him. Guinevere loves him as she loves me.” Arthur gazed around the room and his eyes were serious as he looked at everyone. “There has been no treason on the behalf of my queen or her champion. How could there be when we all love each other?”

“Would anyone else like to try and cause trouble for the three of us?” Guinevere demanded, her hand on Arthur’s arm. “There should have been no reason for us to divulge our private lives to anyone. Our closest confidants have always known.”

“Even a king and queen have a right to their privacy,” Lancelot bit out. “Lord Tyrone was a known troublemaker and he wanted Guinevere to be harmed because he thought that would give him power and prestige.”

“However, there could be no punishment where there was no crime,” Arthur said, putting an arm around his wife and pulling her to his side. “Someone remove the body and make sure any family he has is told why he was executed.” He glared, putting Excalibur away. “Now, I am going to retire for the evening and spend time with the two that I love. If any of you have a problem with it, you can discuss it with me and my knights tomorrow.”

He sheathed Excalibur and turned, walking with his arm around Guinevere and Lancelot on her other side. To anyone watching it was obvious that the three of them moved in sync, Guinevere shifted to walk safely between them. They walked as if they were one and those that knew them wondered how anyone could have missed that they were bonded together deeper than a knight to his lieges?

When the three lovers were out of sight, the body was quickly removed and the music started up again. A bloody example had been shown tonight and it was one that no one would forget.

Do not gossip or slander the queen as her king and their lover would kill you where you stood.

Such a deep bond of love and loyalty paired with a deep love for the kingdom and its people would only be a good thing for the land.

And if anyone who spoke against the queen or their knight was dealt with before word could reach the triangle ruling Camelot, well, it only for the best. They had their hands full with the aspects of running the kingdom and giving everyone there a good life. Their people could do this small thing in return for them.


End file.
